Evaluation of the breeding value of linear-descriptive traits of cows of different beef breeds

The linear-descriptive traits of beef cattle are usually evaluated in three main categories: skeleton, musculature and legs (FABA, 2024b). The aim of this study is to assess the breeding value of cows of linear-descriptive traits from different beef breeds raised in Bulgaria. The object of the study are cows of different beef breeds raised in 100 farms in different regions of the country. The cows are raised freely, on pasture. An analysis of 5 072 animals was carried out on the main traits characterizing the meat qualities of the animals. The assessment of the animals is carried out on a scale from 1 to 9 /according to the instructions of ICAR, 2018/ for generalized traits, as follows: type /head; neck; front, middle and rear parts of the body; udder; testicles; skin and coat color/, musculature /shoulders; back and loin area; length and width of the thighs/, skeleton /depth and width of the body; back line; length and width of the rump; setting of the fore and hind limbs; legs and hooves/. Data processing was carried out using the software products PEST (Groeneveld) and SYSTAT 13. The results obtained by us for the linear descriptive traits are close to those obtained in other similar studies. The highest scores for the studied traits were found in Aberdeen Angus cattle. To a large extent, some of the differences can be explained by the specific structure of the breed composition in our country. As can be seen, the largest number of animals is of the Hereford and Aberdeen Angus breeds, while the number of the Gascon breed is only 89 out of 5072 studied.